


Hallownest is the center of everything that happens to it

by kommandantmilkshake



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: An absolute clusterfuck, Inspired by SCP-3999, Meta, PK gets what he fucking deserves, What a doozy, White Lady cries a lot, Wow, and more - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:01:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 4,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27450898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kommandantmilkshake/pseuds/kommandantmilkshake
Summary: It truly is the center
Comments: 20
Kudos: 40





	1. The Wyrm

The Pale King tinkered around in his workshop. He was tinkering with a wingmould. He stared at the void construct's shell. He sighed. It was going to be another long night.

 ~~The Pale King got up~~ The ~~PK~~ Pale King ~~jumped around his workshop shouting "Eureka!"~~ walked to the door, before ~~being burned to death by the Radiance~~ opening it and calmly walking out of his ~~prison~~ workshop.

The Pale King ~~took note~~ failed to notice the swirling pattern on the walls, along with the ~~Light~~ ~~Festerglow~~ ~~Infected~~ mural of the Radiance than appeared out of ~~thin air~~ the blue drawn all over them. He made his way to the Throne Room ~~before being stabbed by an infected retainer~~ ~~being bisected by a faulty kingsmould~~ before falling down.

He muttered under his breath. He got up ~~and stood in horror as his wife withered to death in front of his eyes, while chains appeared behind him and began restraining him~~.

The Pale King walked to his quarters, before watching Xero stab his daughter who hadn't been born yet to death in the doorway. Xero turned, before lunging at the Pale King with his nails. ~~The Pale King got stabbed in the chest, before Xero sliced up, gutting the former King. He fell to the floor, the last thing he saw being the corpse of his daughter as Xero carried her to who knows where~~

Pale

die die die die die

The Pale King made his way to the Archives, before being electrocuted to ~~death by an Ooma and having his corpse be devoured by Monomon the Teacher~~

He walked to the interior of the Archives before Quirrel ran out and began to bisect the Pale ~~Monarch~~ , burn burn burn die and suffer and forever and die and die and suffer

exist.

The Pale King stared at the creature in front of him. He opened his voice. He was tired. "Stop this. I have done nothing to you." 

The creature ~~didn't~~ ~~wouldn't~~ responded. **" ~~\---------------~~ "**

The Pale King looked down, before seeing his old Wyrm form appear below him. It went up, swallowing him whole, before ~~grinding him to death in those sharp teeth, like those stupid fucking buzzsaws he built in the palace~~

He woke up. It was just a bad dream. He made his way to Lurien the Watcher, before kneeling. "My Watcher, my duty to you is ever eternal." Wait that ~~didn't sound right~~ was completely normal. Lurien grabbed his Wyrm tooth, before lodging it in the Pale King's shoulder. He began digging it deep into his shoulder. The Pale King tried to scream. What came out instead was ~~blood and gore and flesh and blood and~~

Herrah. "HERRAH NO! DON'T! HORNET WILL DIE!" He managed to scream out.

"Oh worry not Wyrm, I'm here to protect her." His Wyrm form appeared, before grinding Hornet in front of her parents. Herrah screamed in grief and terror and rage, and charged at the beast. She quickly got cut into two by the teeth, her two ~~dead bloody halves falling to the floor. The Pale King sobbed in rage and grief. "PLEASE, STOP THIS! WE HAVE DONE NOTHING TO YOU! LEAVE MY FAMI~~

A needle embedded itself into the Monarch's head. He

And he moved across the kingdom, slithering along as an armless, legless creature of wickedness, before being devoured by his own daughter who didn't know any better

The Pure Vessel appeared in front of him. They were hanging on the edge of the Abyss. They tried to climb up. Their sibling, a similar looking vessel, stared down at the bigger vessel. The Pale King shouted. "LEAVE MY VESS-" The similar looking vessel began absorbing the void from the Pure Vessel's eyes. Their eyes then glowed orange, before spewing Infection and Her blasted Light into the Pure Vessel's eyes. The Pure Vessel screamed in agony, in a voice that was not theirs. The similar looking vessel turned to the Monarch, ~~before turning into the Lord of the Shades and impaling him through his eyes. Foresight can't save him now~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And let there be Light, the false Monarch said, before being burned by the strength of a Thousand suns before Her unrelenting and unforgiving Light


	2. The Root

The White Lady moved across her gardens, before seeing a strange green colored Mantis. The mantis walked over, ~~before forcing her to her knees and forcing her to watch his fellow mantises slaughter all her unborn children~~

She made her way to the Abyss, staring down at the pit. A similar pit formed in her stomach. ~~The pit in her stomach proceeded to grow and grow until it devoured her stomach, which in turn caused her to be bisected, causing her upper half to fall onto the ledge, while the lower half fell into the pit~~

~~THE PIT THE PIT THE PIT TPIT TTPITTJTOIT~~

She turned to look at Dryya. Dryya looked back. They both turned to the rustling leaves in front of them. Infected mantises sprung out, before cutting off Dryya's arms. They forced Dryya to look at them, before shoving their claws into her mouth, and cutting her throat up from the inside. ~~The Traitor Lord ran to the White Lady, before stabbing her in the head and cutting her heart out, and he fed on it~~

She turned to the Pure Vessel. She knelt before it. It opened its mandibles, before biting down on her neck. And it ~~fed off the rich, godly pale sap of its mother, and it didn't even stop until she died where she knelt~~

~~false root~~

She made her way to the Pale King. She stared at the Pale King. "My Wyrm, ~~have you noticed anything strange~~ would you like to kill me, before breeding me and spreading my offspring across the land, and making my offspring feed off my corpse?" ~~NO, THATS NOT WHAT SHE MEANT THATS NOT~~ He nodded, before summoning a soul dagger. He stabbed it into her neck, as they shared ~~one last passionate kiss as he prepared to do the most sinful act of~~

A vessel with 2 horns made its way to the White Lady. She was bound, tied up in her cocoon. She opened her blind and useless eyes. "Ah, my offspring returns to me. And it brings another God's offspring with it. I sense the presence of-" ~~She was quickly cut off by the Grimmchild spewing its flames into her eyes, burning them and the rest of her. She writhed and thrashed and burned and burned and burned~~

She woke up. She stared at the creature, the unforming yet forming and constantly shifting yet always still ~~mist~~ ~~void~~ ~~smoke~~ creature in front of ~~it~~ her. "Why are you doing this? What have I done to deserve such cruel torture? Are you simply born this way?"

The creature ~~angrily~~ summoned an ~~blade~~ ~~nail~~ ~~dagger~~ ~~claw~~ axe, before throwing it at the White Lady, it then kept ~~her alive for as long as possible as she thrashed and screamed in pain and horror as it began cutting her down, along with each and every one of her branches and roots~~

"YOU ARE NOT REAL! YOU ARE A PRODUCT OF" ~~Light~~


	3. The Beast

Herrah woke up with a start. She ~~had a dream where her daughter was infected, and her Devout were breeding her daughter until her gory and brutal death~~ got up, before making her way to Hornet's room. She was ~~dead~~ asleep. How ~~foolish~~ adorable. She made her way to her daughter, before ~~strangling her daughter. her daughter woke up, before crying and sobbing and asking "mother, why?" as herrah made her way to her needle, she skewered hornet on it, before eating her pale daughters flesh. a failed clutch, of that damned wyrm. yes, it was all his fault. she tripped and impaled herself on the needle~~

She made her way to the Spire. God ~~s~~ she was tired, she was so ~~bloodlusted~~ tired. She made her way up the elevator. It broke down, before dropping down with her in it. ~~It crashed at the bottom floor, killing her as wood and glass and the like firmly got embedded into her carapace, the last thing she saw being the Pale King~~

She walked along, before ~~being stabbed in the back by the Watcher~~

Herrah made her way to the beasts den, before seeing 2 vessels. 1 was the Pale King's Pure Vessel, the other was a smaller but similar looking vessel. Accompanied by them was her daughter, only fully grown. Hornet turned to look at her mother. "M-mother?" She walked forward, before the Lord of the Shades appeared and ~~decapited Herrah, before attempting to crush hornet with its tendrils~~

She walked across the Dream. She came face to face with the Radiance. "I know we are facing a ~~common enemy, an interloper, a cruel being~~ very big problem, so I propose to you... peace. If you stop the Infection, we can work together to rid ourselves of this ~~monster~~ ~~demon~~ ~~twisted creature~~ pest."

The Radiance seemed to think, before nodding. "I SUPPOSE I SHOULD HAVE CALMED DOWN LONG AGO..." A black ~~mist~~ smoke appeared, before engulfing the Radiance. She screamed before bursting into dream essence. The smoke went for Herrah. ~~It swarmed the Beast, before choking her to death with its nasty little gases~~

Herrah got up, holding her needle. "I don't know what you are, I don't know who, all I know is you've been torturing me, and possibly others. Stop it. I will protect my daughter and kingdom at any cost. You will not win."

~~Herrah got impaled by numerous spikes after this statement. never ever challenge me you irrelevant shit for brains bugs you are not real you cant harm me but i can harm you~~

Herrah sat in the corner, shackled to the wall. She looked at ~~you~~


	4. The Watcher

Lurien walked to the Pale King, before bowing. "Your Majesty, I have come to address the issue of the seals. What if they broke? What would become of us when the Radiance is dead?" The Pale King looked at Lurien, ~~before summoning a soul nail and decapitating him with it~~

He walked over to Monomon. "Dearest Teacher, while I know you are very busy, but I must ask you... what is the source of the Infection?" He looked at her.

She turned to look at him. "I believe it is a moth goddess called the Radiance. Her domain is the dream realm, where she used to apparently be a warm and motherly figure, until the Pale King turned her tribe away from her. It is her anger that caused this Infection."

Lurien nodded. "I thank you, Teacher." Lurien turned to go.

"One more thing, before you leave, I would like to know how much pain you can handle before dying." ~~Lurien barely had time to scream as a thousand volts were pumped through him by a green slimy tentacle~~

He woke up, before scratching his head. Wait, wasn't he supposed to dream? Then why was- ~~his question was quickly answered by a deafening roar, before being followed by his vision being filled with yellow and white.~~

He got up, before making his way over to the Watcher Knights. He stared at them. "Watcher Knights, get up." One of them got up. The Knight was holding ~~a nail stained blue with hemolymph~~ a clean nail. Lurien scratched his head. Didn't he just see the nail stained with blue? No, that was ~~real~~ a trick on his eyes. He turned to the elevator, before ~~being stabbed by a nail in his torso, before being cut in half by the Watcher Knight~~ making his way down

Lurien was his name. He was the Watcher. He could ~~not~~ do this. He gripped his nail with a shaky hand, as he stood before Hornet. The Gendered Child. ~~He turned the blade on himself, before stabbing himself with it multiple times. He couldn't do this, he couldn't kill an innocent child, beast or not~~

He walked over to the top of the Spire. "Only one way to end this, you monster." He jumped off. ~~Yet though he wished for death, he was not granted it and it started AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND~~

Lurien got up. He let out a yawn, fatigue tugging at his ~~soul~~ being caused by the torture from this thing. This ~~CREATURE~~ thing. He simply sat there. ~~And nothing happened~~

~~He got crushed by a chunk of rock from cave ceiling of the City~~


	5. The Teacher

Monomon floated lazily across the ~~hazy, orange dreamscape~~ ~~vantablack of the abyss~~ green of the archives, before stopping. She turned to look at her ~~pet~~ ~~child~~ student, before patting him. He turned to look at her. ~~He then grabbed a nail that materialized out of nowhere before stabbing it into his teacher~~

She floated along, before screaming. The Archives were burning. She floated along frantically, looking for anyone trapped. A canister fell over her, along with another and another. Now she was trapped. An infected husk walked over to her, ~~before beating her to death with a canister and stabbing the glass deep into her~~

Monomon made her way to the Beasts Den. She immediately got ~~impaled by a Devout before being consumed, having the acid sucked out of her in a deadly yet arousing experience~~

"I must be dreaming." She floated along. She stopped. WHy couldn't she move... she barely had time to scream ~~before being crushed by a hydraulic press. Her mask cracked and shattered, and her core got flattened and burst into the liquids it was composed of. Slowly but surely, the acid got squeezed out of her as well, leaving her a drained corpse~~

Black. Mist. In front of her. She stared at it. It gazed back, before ~~entering~~ stabbing itself through the eyeholes in her mask, before ~~taking control~~ possessing her. It forced her to sort of eject all the acid from her, draining her dry. It left her, before floating away and disappearing. ~~Monomon died due to dehydration~~

Monomon got out of her tank. She looked around, before submering herself in the tank. It leaned to the right, before falling onto a spike that appeared out of nowhere. ~~Monomon got impaled~~

~~dammit im out of ideas, how durable are these fucking bugs?~~

Monomon peered out of her tank. She was ~~not~~ safe. ~~for now~~


	6. The Scholar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and this is the part where i torture best boy

Quirrel skipped along the paths of the Archives, looking around in wonder and awe at the vials. He felt a wave of accomplishment wash over him. He reached over to his head. He could feel something dripping. ~~Before he could scream, a wave of acid washed over him as well. It dissolved his chitinous exterior as he screamed in horror for the Madame to come help him~~

He jolted up. He was sitting down on... something. What that something was, he could not tell. He scratched his head, before getting on his feet. He glanced around him. The surrounding area was yellow and orange... he reached to his waist, before realizing he didn't have a nail. Oh ~~God~~ Wyrm. He walked around, keeping an eye out for any of those blasted orange ~~fun bubbles~~ ~~balloons~~ signature pustules and veins of the Infection.

He didn't want to learn what the Old Light actually was like in this Realm, and he didn't want to find out. He began trying to force himself awake, before stopping. His Madame, his adopted mother, his Teacher floated in front of him. She was surrounded by yellow symbols floating around her and disappearing once they got high enough. His Madame extended a tentacle to him, ~~before spearing him with it and scooping his insides out~~

Quirrel looked around the City of Tears. What a beautiful sight, if only it wasn't full of infected ~~zombies~~ husks. He sighed, before reaching for his nail. He made his way through the City, narrowly avoiding the Infected ~~Guards~~ ~~Cops~~ Sentries patrolling the City. He stopped at a fountain with 3 figures surrounding 1 bug in the center. He looked at it.

He could've sworn he had seen the bug before. ~~The Hollow Knight~~ He ~~glared~~ ~~looked~~ kept staring at the statue. It seemed to suddenly animate before his very eyes. It made its way over to him, before placing its two stony hands on both sides of his head. ~~A sickening crunch echoed throughout the City, the last thing Quirrel saw was the stony pathways and the last thing he heard being the pitter patter of the rain on his mask~~

 ~~Knight~~ ~~Child~~ ~~Vessel~~ The Little Ghost was standing near Quirrel. They beckoned him to come closer, before ~~strangling~~ ~~stabbing~~ hugging him. Quirrel let them finish. They moved away from the hug, before making their way over to ~~their room~~ ~~the Abys~~ The Hollow Knight.

Quirrel was suddenly restrained by multiple chains, before unknown figures approached and somehow brought both vessels down to one knee. The figures began pouring a brown liquid all over them, before igniting the liquid. ~~Both vessels burst into flames, the last thing the Ghost did before dying was reaching out to Quirrel. He couldn't save them. Suddenly, Quirrel could feel a pressure on his head, before his mask seemed to grow and grow until it flattened his head and his torso and~~

He made his way over to the balcony of the Spire. He looked out. ~~He failed to realize how the Spire never had this balcony before.~~ He was prompted to look out the balcony. He peered over, his eyes scanning the entirety of the view.

He saw many scenes. Himself, at the Blue Lake ~~then drowning himself~~ , The Madame bursting into dream essence ~~"Please, stop this torture"~~ , a vessel playing with him, they seemed to be having fun, ~~then the same vessel, impaled on numerous PALE shards, and his nail and The Madame's mask being the only reminders that he was once there~~ , and finally, 8 glowing white eyes in a pitch-black scene.

~~Quirrel jumped off the balcony, having seen enough~~


	7. The Gendered Child

~~Horn~~ Hornet looked around, before ~~impaling herself on her needle~~

She made her way to the statue, before hearing a commanding voice. "Turn back, simple weaver. This place is a corpse. It will grant only death. As will I, to those that seek to desecrate it." 

Hornet looked at the source of the voice. It was a pillbug, one with a big mask on its head. The pillbug had a nail slung on its back. She frowned. "I do not wish to fight. I carry this needle to protect my shell." 

The pillbug frowned back before taking out the nail. "You lie. Your stance is that of a warrior. Pharloom has suffered enough from the likes of you. Kha'sahh!" The pillbug threw the nail at Hornet. ~~It went right through her head, taking out her brain and spearing it onto the wall behind her~~

Hornet patted ~~hersle~~ herself down. What in the ~~hell~~ ~~fuck~~ Wyrm just happened? Nothing happened, she was just standing there, near her Mother's plinth. ~~No, something did happe~~

She looked at the still form of her Mother. She knelt down. Protectors don't cry. She rested a ~~claw~~ hand on her Mother's mask. ~~The mask split open, displaying rows of horrifying teeth that clamped down on her hand, before she died from blood loss and husks defiled her corpse~~

The Vessel. She looked at it. It looked back. She threw her needle at it, before cleanly slicing the mask into two. The shade rose out, before ~~cutting into her with void tendrils and sapping her very life from her~~

Hornet woke up, next to her Mother. She stared at her Mother, before going back to sleep. ~~safe now, you out of ideas~~

~~Midwife came into the living room before screaming in horror as Hornet's and Herrah's insides came out of their guts along while a needle embedded itself into their skulls before spinning like a drill~~


	8. The Vessel

An endless void mixed with orange light. A godly roar forced its way out of the Pure Vessel, before it was used as a puppet by the Radiance to fight the empty one.

The world shifted around them and its shade was devoured by the Light.

It saw its ~~beloved~~ sibling being hacked to pieces by the nail that it held wielded. It didn't dare move or think. But it failed anyways. ~~It always does~~

It simply stood there, letting everything happen to it. ~~But it persevered~~ With every death that happened, it died a little inside, and it eventually gave up

just give up

~~GIVE UP~~

The vessel was forced to watch as the Radiance tore its ~~FATHER~~ ~~CREATOR~~ King to shreds and burn it to ash

The vessel

~~...why dont you just give up. you cant win this.~~

The vessel was thrown across the walls of the abyss, each hit shattering off a piece of its void carapace and mask

The Lord of the Shades appeared, before tearing the vessel to pieces multiple times

It was impaled by void tendrils

It got thrown across the kingdom

It got crushed by the Wyrm before being shredded by its teeth

...

The vessel sat there in a fetal position, not moving at all. A buzzsaw was launched at its back before spinning, cutting up most of its spine

~~Radiance~~


	9. The Lord Of The Shades

The Lord

Shades

Rising and falling

 ~~The Radiance screamed, before incinerating the Shadelord with her~~ Light

The LOTS looked around, before getting up. ~~They~~ It made its way over to the Hollow Knight. The Hollow Knight looked up at its sibling ~~s~~.

~~The Hollow Knight's eyes filled with orange pustules, their mask cracking before shattering, and in their place stood The Radiance, reborn~~

It looked around. It saw its sister. Hornet. It made its way over to its sister, before offering her a claw. She reached for it, before grabbing her needle and ~~stabbing the LOTS, the last thing it saw being the tiny orange pinpricks in the eyes of its sister, ITS SISTER~~

The Pale King made its way over to the small vessel, before kneeling down. "I'm sorry for everything I have done to you and your kin. You are free to go, my child." ~~The Pale King then ran into a buzzsaw, killing himself~~

The LOTS flew over to the White Lady, before hugging her. **DON'T GO PLEASE DON'T GO DON'T GO DON'T** ~~The White Lady was already dead, for her child's void nature sapped the very life out of her~~

The Lord Of The Shades sat down, a feeble little vessel who tried to save its family. **YOU AREN'T REAL YOU KILLED MY FAMILY YOU'RE TRYING TO BREAK ME** ~~hush now~~

~~The vessel sat into a fetal position, before seeming to cry as void tears streamed out of its eyes~~

~~Before the vessel lay the bodies of its family, its siblings, its parents, all dead in brutal manners. only the white lady had the relatively peaceful~~ death


	10. The Damned

The Knight walked around, nails slung over his back. It seemed that he was the only occupant in the palace. This was already enough to worry him. Weren't these palace grounds always home to at least 1 retainer?

He shrugged it off. Perhaps he could at least find a Kingsmould. Yes, they might follow his orders. He was, after all, one of the Great Six Knights.

He was. He ~~waltzed~~ walked around some more, looking for anyone. Anything. Just, anyone. "Hello?" He called out into the deathly silent halls of the White Palace. He tsked. "Fuck."

It seemed that there truly no ~~victims~~ retainers today.

Suddenly, a thought entered his head. A thought that was entirely of his own making. ~~A thought that had actually been planted by the Light that hates~~

The ant ran to the throne room. And there he was. Sitting in all his wretched glory. The Pale ~~Usurper!~~ ~~False~~ King.

He walked over to the Pale King. The Pale King sat there, unmoving. And tainted by that disgusting, orange glow. Bastard of a man.

"Pale King. For your crimes against Hallownest," he recited, "You are to be executed. You have failed everyone." He snarled. "Even your own child." 

This got a response out of the bastard ~~nubbins~~ man. He slowly turned to look at Xero, before uttering a few words. "Please, kill me." Orange goop leaked out of his eye sockets.

Wait. What was he doing!?! This was the Pale King! He was ~~not~~ going to betray him! He was ~~not~~! He pulled out a nail, before cleaving the King in twain. He then moved over to the King's head, before stabbing it, over and over and over and over again with his nail. ~~All of a sudden, everything became clear to him as the palace occupants suddenly appeared again in the corner of his vision, before the Pale Lady let out a strangled cry at the death of her husband~~

...

~~Were the Pale King's eyes really orange? Or was that another figment of his imagination~~

And Xero

fell

down

down

~~He saw the Light~~

down

~~And then he saw the Vessel~~

down

~~And he saw~~

and he hit

~~me~~

the ground


End file.
